What the Maddinson selection tells us about the state of Australian cricket

October 9, 2026 — 3:30pm

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A good shipping line doesn’t send veteran steamers into the worst of winter and hope for the best. It builds the next generation of ships while the old captains are still on the bridge. Anything else is sailing on hope and trusting the weather to hold.

By recalling NSW veteran Nic Maddinson into Australia’s Test squad to face South Africa, selectors have made that gamble.

Australia has South Africa and India away, and an Ashes tour of England next year. So we can’t afford to lean on hope.

Even if Maddinson makes runs, his selection plugs a gap and builds nothing. The batting is vulnerable, and the bowling again rests on Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon staying fit. One injury and we’d be exposed.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a great fan of Nic’s and always thought he should have played more Tests. But that window closed a decade ago. He was one of the most gifted players to emerge from Australia’s 2010 under-19 World Cup winners in New Zealand, alongside Mitch Marsh, Hazlewood, Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson. He struck the ball beautifully, bowled clever left-arm spin and had one of the best arms I’ve seen in youth cricket. His future looked secure.

Instead, he became a casualty of a broken first-class structure. I remember several seasons when he started well in the Sheffield Shield, then lost momentum when the Big........

© The Sydney Morning Herald